Well where do you start. Everyone has that memory of the first time they remember becoming hooked on Video Games. As this is a Classic Video Games site when we are talking about Video Games we are talking about the era from 1978 to approx 1985. This is considered by most to be the Classic Age of Video Games. We are talking about an age before you could get any decent kind of game at home on either a console or a computer.
Video Games were confined to the Arcade. Invariably the cabinets were in the corners of dark, dinghy, smelly basements. It all felt illicit and as if you were part of some underground movement.
The first video game I ever played was on a home system when I was around 9 or 10 years old. We visited some family friends who were richer than us and their son had a TV pong console. I watched Sportsnight on the telly and then played Pong for hours......I was hooked, and I had been allowed to stay up late to boot. The next day I wanted a TV Game, of course I did not get one, such was life as a kid.
The next time I came across video games was the Real McCoy. At school I was part of the gym squad. Towards the end of summer term we were allowed to go on a field trip to Swanage in Dorset to a sort of summer camp. While we were camping near this seaside town on the South Coast the group had to take part in some orienteering and being useless at it we ended up at the seafront. To our delight we were allowed to have some free time. This is back in the seventies remember and child abduction and the like was more or less unheard of, so roaming free was not an issue. We headed straight for the noisy seafront arcades which had a collection of one armed bandits, drop the penny and pinball machines. However what I found instead were some new fangled video games. I did not even look at the pinball machines. Looking over older boys shoulders I could see the flickering vector graphics screens and knew I had to have a go.
I found an empty game, put my money in, the rest is history!!!!!!!!!
Tailgunner Flyer
If memory serves, the game was Tailgunner. A simple vector based game. 10p after 10p left my hand and found its way into the tin in the bottom of the cabinet. Eventually the tinny sound of coins hitting the bottom changed to the sound of coin dropping on coin dropping on coin. I had used all my money, the time had flown by and I had a glazed look over my eyes. I was and have been ever since hooked on Video Games.
Classic
Cabinets
The next day all I could think about was getting back into the arcade. As luck would have it we were back in Swanage for some part of the field trip, and again found our way into the arcade. I hit Tailgunner again and was far better than last time, which just spurred me on more and more. I migrated to a different cabinet flush with my mastery of Tailgunner.
Boot-Hill Screenshot
Boot-Hill would become my next fix. When my money ran out I now borrowed it off a friend and eventually resulted in hanging around the fruit machines to see if anyone had left change in the tray by accident.
Night Driver & Sprint Screenshots
I then went on to let Sprint and Night Driver consume the last remnants of my cash. I was skint, my eyes hurt, my heart was racing and to this day what I remember most about that field trip was the first contact that I had with an arcade, I was hooked baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!
